Lecture 14 Outline of Last Lecture I. 19th Century Continueda. Grand Operab. Guiseppe VerdiII. Historical Context on RealismIII. RealismIV. NaturalismV. Henrik IbsenVI. A Doll’s HouseVII. Hedda GablerVIII. Anton ChekhovIX. Moscow Art TheaterX. Konstantin StanislavskiXI. The Stanislavski MethodOutline of Current Lecture I. SymbolismII. August StrindbergIII. Maurice MaeterlinckIV. The Ubu PlaysV. MeyerholdVI. BiomechanicsCurrent LectureI. Symbolisma. Leading movement of time periodb. Cohesively identifiablec. Influenced by Nietzched. Favored mood and quality over plot and charactere. Everything had meaning (hence “symbolism”)II. August Strindberga. Wrote in realism and symbolismb. Lots of tumult in his personal lifec. History of mental illnessd. Famous Works: “Miss Julie” and “A Dream Play”III. Maurice Maeterlincka. Most successful symbolistb. Said theater should present a shadow, a reflection, a projection of symbolic formsc. Wrote short plays in symbolism THAR 281 1st EditionIV. The Ubu Playsa. Written by Jarry b. Trio of playsi. One takes place in this time periodii. Other take place in the 30’s and 40’sc. Ubu Roi i. combination of Julius Caesar and Macbethii. About politics and power strugglesiii. A grotesque workiv. Filled with humor about manure V. Meyerholda. Originally a member of the Moscow Art Theaterb. Russian anti-realism director and actor trainerc. Wanted to free theater from rules and restrictions (like romanticism)d. His work is influenced by comedia del arte, the circus and music hallse. Best known for biomechanics VI. Biomechanicsa. External, physical actor training techniquei. Actors learn physical form first and then can portray character better (outsidein)b. Works to train actors as machinesi. Sees actors as having finite range of movementsii. Once they can achieve that, then they can portray character betterc. Goals of biomechanics:i. Reduce tension in the actorsii. Improve balanceiii. Increase kinesthetic awarenessd. Etude = series of movements that actor had to continuously do in order to replicate them (French for “study”); physically
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